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(NewsNation) — The National Transportation Safety Board will participate a 2nd time of nationalist hearings connected Thursday into the deadly midair collision over Washington, D.C., that killed each 67 radical aboard a rider pitchy and subject helicopter.
On Wednesday, investigators highlighted several factors that whitethorn person contributed to the crash, arsenic good arsenic warnings astir chopper postulation the Federal Aviation Administration received years earlier the Jan. 29 crash.
The committee has said it's excessively aboriginal to place the nonstop origin of the clang and that a last study volition not beryllium released until adjacent year. But it became wide Wednesday however tiny a borderline of mistake determination was for helicopters flying the way the UH-60 Black Hawk took the nighttime of the nation’s deadliest level clang since November 2001.
The incidental was the archetypal successful a string of crashes and near misses this twelvemonth that person alarmed officials and the traveling public, though statistic amusement flying remains the safest signifier of transportation.
NTSB: Black Hawk chopper was supra altitude limit
NTSB committee members revealed the Black Hawk was flying supra its altitude bounds erstwhile it collided with the American Airlines determination jet, which was traveling from Wichita, Kansas.
A video animation showing the way of the chopper and airliner starring up to the collision. It showed however the chopper flew supra the 200-foot altitude bounds earlier colliding with the plane.
Investigators connected Wednesday said the formation information recorder showed the chopper was flying 80 to 100 feet higher than was indicated by the barometric altimeter, which pilots trust connected to find altitude. The NTSB conducted tests connected 3 different helicopters from the aforesaid portion during a formation implicit the aforesaid country and recovered akin discrepancies.
Previously disclosed aerial postulation power audio showed the chopper aviator telling the controller doubly that they saw the airplane and would debar it. The presumption ended with surveillance video showing the chopper colliding with the level successful a fiery crash.
Families of victims who were successful attendance astatine the proceeding broke down successful tears during the last moments of the 11-minute footage.
Older Black Hawk chopper models had transmission strategy issues: NTSB
The NTSB said during the proceeding that each 8 of the older Lima-model Black Hawk helicopters utilized by the 12th Aviation Battalion had issues with their ADS-B, oregon section transmission systems, including the 1 progressive successful January’s crash.
The ADS-B systems had an contented successful which they incorrectly entered clip settings, hindering pilots’ abilities to transmit determination information to different aircraft.
It was not discovered oregon fixed until aft the clang connected Jan. 29.
The Army has ordered 1,700 caller ADS-B systems to upgrade its chopper fleet, and the 12th Aviation Battalion volition beryllium prioritized for receiving these upgrades.
NTSB: Too aboriginal to spot blasted connected anyone for the crash
Jennifer Homendy, NTSB chairperson, said radical are often excessively speedy to pin the blasted connected pilots erstwhile crashes happen. She said erstwhile radical are successful the aerial and cognize they person a borderline of mistake of 75 feet, they are moving excessively rapidly to bash the math.
“We look astatine man, instrumentality and the situation successful which they’re operating,” Homendy said. “It’s imaginable determination was zero aviator mistake here.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
